TEXT 12. Read and translate the text. Make up 10 questions on its contents

British Family Life

The English are a nation of stay-at-home. «There is no place like home», they say. And when the man is not working he is at home in the company of his wife and children and busies himself with the affairs of the home. «The Englishman's home is his castle», is a saying known all over the world. And it is true.

A «typical» British family used to consist of mother, father and two children, but in recent years there have been many changes in family life. Some of these have been caused by new laws and others are the result of changes in society. For example, since the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. In fact one marriage in every three now ends in divorce. This means that there are a lot of one-parent families. Society is now more tolerant than it used to be of unmarried people, unmarried couples and single parents.

Another change has been caused by the fact that people are living longer nowadays, and many old people live alone following the death of their partners. As a result of these changes in the pattern of people's lives, there are many households which consist of only one person or one person and children.

You might think that marriage and the family are not so popular as they once were. However, the majority of divorced people marry again, and they sometimes take responsibility for a second family.

Members of a family - grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins - keep in touch, but they see less of each other than they used to. This is because people often move away from their home town to work, and so the family becomes scattered. Christmas is the traditional season for reunions. Although the family group is smaller nowadays than it used to be, relatives often travel many miles in order to spend the holiday together.

In general, each generation is keen to become independent of parents in establishing its own family unit, and this fact can lead to social as well as geographical differences within the larger family group.

Relationships within the family are different now. Parents treat their children more as equals than they used to, and children have more freedom to make their own decisions. The father is more involved with bringing up children, often because the mother goes out to work. Increased leisure facilities and more money mean that there are greater opportunities outside the home. Although the family holiday is still an important part of family life (usually taken in August, and often abroad) many children have holidays away from their parents, often with a school party or other organized group.

Who looks after the older generation? There are about 10 million old-age pensioners in Britain, of whom about 750,000 cannot live entirely independently. The government gives financial help in the form of a pension but in the future it will be more and more difficult for the nation economy to support the increasing number of elderly. At the present time, more than half of all old people are looked after at home. Many others live in Old Peoples' Homes, which may be private or state owned.

TEXT 13. Read and translate. Give a summary of the text.

Generation Gap

Do you know what a generation gap is? Even if you don't know the particular definition, you are aware of this problem, basing on your own experience. Generation gap is a popular term used to describe serious differences between people of two generations.

To realize how to deal with it, you should keep in mind that generation gap includes several aspects: children must know as much as possible about their parents and parents – about the world outlook of their children, about relations between brothers and sisters, and also about the attitude to them of close relatives on both sides – father's and mother's.

Children demand a great deal of attention, time and patience. There are many families where both parents keep working after giving birth to their baby and neglect their children's upbringing. In such cases most of the time the child has to spend on his own or with his friends. Due to the fact that he has not got any guidance from his parents he may be involved in some bad companies which commit violence or even crime and become alcohol or drug addicted. When the parents discover that, it's usually too late to change anything.

On the other hand, there is a different situation when the parents treat their children too strict and don't give them any freedom at all. In this case the children may become pariahs among their peers. Constant bans may increase the risk that the child will grow up insolent and defiant. This causes another big problem – lying. The child is forced to lie to the parents because of the fear to be punished. It can be anything from putting on make-up in the girls' room at school to stealing.

Some children rebel against discipline and family values. They listen to a loud music, wear inappropriate, to their parents' mind, clothes, dye their hair in inconceivable colours, have all their bodies pierced and tattooed trying to show their independence and establish their identity. They want to be treated as adults, but they are not ready to take all the necessary responsibilities. It doesn't mean that a child is bad and he will become a criminal. Of course, not! It only means that a child is in his transitional age and he is in need of your understanding and support.

But how to handle such behaviour? Parents and children should speak as often as possible, and have some parent-child activities like shopping or going in for sports. It is worth involving the child in discussing some family questions. Moreover, children in their teens are very vulnerable when they are criticized in public, so it should be avoided. Parents should always be honest and sincere with their child; otherwise it would be unfair to require the same from him.

Too authoritarian parents can't do any good to their children as well as parents who overindulge all the child's caprices. Overindulgence may lead to the same results as negligence. There are parents who are afraid of hurting the child by banning something when it is necessary. Such parents risk becoming powerless in the family and losing control over their children who may become spoiled and capricious.

It demands to make a great effort from both parents and children to reach mutual understanding.